Both short and long-term experiments have been set up to examine the effects of the passage of a 4m commercial beam trawl over the seabed. Examination of the infauna and epifauna will yield information on potential community effects attributable to fishing activity. Studies of the survival of animals caught in, and passing through the meshes of the net, addresses concern about by-catch mortality. Concomitantly, studies of the feeding behaviour of certain scavenging species indicates whether these may benefit directly from the by-product of fishing activities.